Shenmue 3 hits Kickstarter goal

That didn't take long. Less than 12 hours after its announcement at the Sony E3 press conference stage, the Kickstarter for Shenmue 3 has reached its $2 million goal. $2,289,324 is the exact total, at the time of writing. That's the power of being revealed during a massive E3 conference, I guess. And also of being Shenmue 3.

This thing could run and run, given that there's still 31 days before the end of the campaign. It's just as well, as I imagine Yu Suzuki and the game's development team will actually need much more than $2 million to make a good Shenmue sequel.

Shenmue 3 is being created in Unreal Engine 4, and will finally pick up from the cliffhanger of Shenmue 2. "Ryo and Shenhua start off on a new journey that will take them farther into enemy territory," explains the Kickstarter pitch, "deeper into mystery, and ever closer to their destiny."

Shenmue 3 is estimated for a December 2017 release. It is definitely happening, but it's going to take a while.

Edit: Stretch goals! The existing goals run to $4 million, which, at this rate, will probably happen at some point tomorrow.